Process and machine for making containers.



C. E. GREGORY.

PROCESS AND MACHINE FOR MAKING CONTAINERS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 14. 1915.

LIUAQ, Patented Jan. 2, 1917.

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C. E. GREGORY.

PROCESS AND MACHINE FOR MAKING CONTAINERS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 14. ms.

1 ,2 1 464 Patented J an. 2, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

N ETATEE PATENT QFFIQEQ CHARLES E. GREGORY, NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO STANDARD PAIL & PACKAGE CO., IN C., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

PROCESS AND MACHINE FOR MAKING CONTAINERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 2, 1917,

Application filed June 14, 1915. Serial No. 33,924.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES E. GREGORY, a citizen of the United States, and resident of New Rochelle, in the county of Vestchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes and Machines for Making Containers, of which the following is a specilication.

This invention relates to certain improvements in the manufacture of containers and more particularly to that type of container in which the peripheral wall is formed of a I plurality of longitudinally extending staves and in which said peripheral wall is of smaller diameter at one end than at the other.

The main objects of my invention are to reduce the cost of manufacture, decrease the time required for assembling the parts, permit the use of flat boards or strips as the staves and to so assemble and hold the parts, that strips of veneer, scrap pieces left over from the manufacture of other articles, or other inexpensive material may be employed.

My invention involves various important features including apparatus for assembling the parts of containers. Instead of formin the peripheral wall by first setting up a series of especially sawed, curved staves and then driving the hoops endwise to the proper position, I place the hoops in a conical die, assemble the stav es and force them longitudinally toward the smaller end of the die and into proper position within the hoops. eAlthough staves cut or previously bent to curved form may be employed, still by means of my invention, I can utilize flat strips as the staves and cause each one to assume a curved form and be permanently held in such curved form by the compression to which the stav'es are subjected while being forced endwise into the die, and preferably between the inner surface of the latter and outer surface of a )lun 'er member en a in with the inner. b t: 5

surface of the staves during their longitudinal movement.

My invention involves various other important features, all of which may be utilized in one construction and operation, or some of which may be utilizedindependently of others. I

Reference is to be had to the accompanylng drawings in which similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts in the several views and in which I have illustrated one form of apparatus embodying my invention, and designed for carrying out my improved process and the manufacture of my improved container.

In these drawings, Figure l is a central longitudinal section through a die with the staves, hoops and bottom of a container loosely assembled therein; Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof; Fig. 3 is a section similar to F ig. 1, but showing the plunger in section and the parts in the position which they occupy upon the completion of the assembling operation, said section being taken on the line 33 of Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 8, the flange of the plunger being broken away; Fig. 5 is a central vertical section through the die showing the container after the removal of the plunger member and showing mechanism for removing the container from the die; Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but showing the container partly elevated from the die; Fig. 7 is a transverse section through the parts shown in Fig. 6, a part of the bottom being broken away; Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a modified form of plunger; Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the container lifter; Fig. 10 is a partial side elevat-ion and partial section of a complete container; and Fig. 11 is a partial section of a container with wire hoops rather than band hoops.

Containers may be'constructed in various different forms and the details may be varied in accordance with the use for which the container is designed and in accordance with the character of the machine in which the container is made. The machine may also be varied in detail. Therefore, I desire the specific forms illustrated to be considered merely in an illustrative sense rather than in a limiting one. v

In the specific construction illustrated, the apparatus includes primarily a die member 10 and a plunger member 11, each of a length and diameter corresponding to the size of the container to be manufactured. The die member 10 includes essentially a peripheral metal wall of frusto-conical form and open at the larger end. The

smaller end may be entirely open or may be partly closed. Preferably, there is left a suitable opening to permit the. insertion of ejecting mechanism. The inner surface of the die wall has a series of annular recesses adapted to receive the hoops of the container. There may be any number of these recesses, dependent upon the number of hoops which it is desired to employ. The recesses are of such form that hoops of the proper size, when dropped into the larger end of the die member, will each enter a corresponding recess and be positively prevented from further longitudinal movement toward the smaller end of the die member.

The specific die illustrated is designed for the manufacture of a container with three hoops and therefore has three recesses 12, 13 and 14. The upper recess 12 is at the upper end of the'die and has an enlarged upper portion and a shoulder 15 so as to receive a hoop with a band portion 16 and a bead 17. This bead may project above the upper end of the'die when the parts are first assembled and may be forced down or fiattened and compressed into the enlarged portion of'the recess abovethe shoulder 15 by the plunger member of the device. The recess 13 is shown intermediate of the ends of the die and defined by a cylindrical surface intersecting the conical inner surface of the die and a transverse surface constituting a shoulder upon which a hoop 18 may rest. The lower recess 14: may be defined by a cylindrical surface at the lower end of the die member and a ring 19 having its upper surface constituting a shoulder upon which the hoop 20 may rest. This ring 19 may be made movable lengthwise of the die as is hereinafter more particularly pointed out.

The plunger member 'is also in the form of an annular frusto-conical wall, the taper of the outer surface corresponding to the taper of the inner surface of the die member 10. The plungermember is of smaller diameter than the die member, the difference in radius at corresponding points along the length being substantially equal to'the thickness of the material constituting the staves of the container. This annular wall of the die member may be made of a single piece and it may be connected to the reciprocating member of a large hydraulic press, or other machine so as to have a range of movement slightly greater than its own length; but, if desired, and in fact in small machines, I preferably make the die member of a plurality of sections so connected that the die member may be collapsed to facilitate its removal from the container after the completion of the assemblingv and pressing operations.

Asshown, the die member includes three sections 21, 22 and 23,the sections 22 and 23 being hinged or pivotally connected to the section 21 along lines extending lengthwise engagement with, the'upper end of the positions.

of the plunger member. 7 At their edges 01)- posite to the pivotal connections, the sections 22 and 23 have inwardly projecting 7 mit-the collapsing of the latter. 7

Each wall section of the plunger member at its upper end-has an outwardly extending flange 27 adapted to come adjacent to, or in die member when the plunger member has been forced to the limiting position. The annular flange, formed of these sections, engages with the staves to force the latter down into 'thedie member and may also engage with the bead 17 of the upper hoop to fiattenthe latter and cause its upper edge to lie substantially flush with the upper end of the die and the upper ends of the staves.

At the lower end of the-die member there is preferably mounted a false bottom 29 resiliently supported on a spider28 or other form of support. This is shown-as being vertically movable and normally held in raised position 'by a spring 30. "As shown, the spider 28 also serves to support the ring '19 and limit the downward movement of the latter, although a separate flange might be provided if desired.

In the use. of the apparatus above described and in carrying out my improved process, the hoops 16, 18 and 20 are inserted in the die member'in their respective annular recesses and a series'of staves 32 are assembled substantially as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. These staves are all-of the proper length and are each provided with a croze 33 adjacent to its lower end. By means of my processyit is possible to employ staves in the form of thin fiat boards of any desired kind of wood and they need not be previously sawed or bent to curved form. The staves may be slightly tapered and may be beveled at their side-edges. With the hoops and staves inplace, a bottom 34 is inof the dieand forces themto the relative po- 7 sitio-ns shown' in Fig. 3. This" forces the staves endwise, compresses them and bends each to the proper curved form as shown in Fig. 4. The endwise movementof the staves also forces them tightlyinto the hoops while compressing the staves so that the hoops and staves occupy the proper relative The plunger, die and container are then removed from the press, the wedge 26 is loosened and removed to permit the coltainer and permit it to be readily taken out of the die. Any suitable mechanism for pressing or tapping the ring 19 may be employed. As shown in Figs. 5 and 6, I provide a vertically movable member 35 having a plurality of pins 36 adapted to engage with the under side of the ring 19 at spaced points and lift the latter vertically. This member may be operated by a foot or hand lever 37, or in any other suitable manner.

Any other suitable, means might be employed in place of that shown for this purpose.

In my improved container, the staves are under comparatively high pressure so that tight'joints are formed between the adjacent staves and the staves are held in their curved form. By forcing the staves endwise into the die, an absolutely uniform size of container is insured. By using fiat strips as the staves,

the latter may be made of uniform thickness and planed, or otherwise finished, smooth before they are assembled so that no finishing operation is needed on the container after it leaves the die.

By using the flat strips as the staves instead of pieces sawed to curved form, I can utilize thin veneer stock and can utilize a large quantity of short pieces which constitute the waste in many manufacturing operations. I can use any desired kind of wood and by properly designing the dies and plunger member, I can make containers of any diameter, height, pitch, or thickness of wall. By making the upper hoop with an annular bead at its upper edge, I prevent the said edge from cutting into or injuring other objects, or the hands of persons handling the container in case the hoop pro j ects slightly above the top of the staves, and also I reinforce the hoop so that it cannot very easily be bent and will better insure the holding of the upper ends of the staves in the proper curve and retain the upper end of the container of circular form.

In connection with the container, I preferably employ a sheet metal top 40 which may have a depending annular flange orlip 41 which may be beaded 'or bent beneath the edge of the portion 17 of the top hoop and along its entire length or at spaced points to hold the cover in position. Con tainers of thischaracter are commonly employed as candy pails or lard pails and the contact of the candy or lard with the metallic top may be prevented by any suitable form of lining 42. This may be either a coating of paraliin or other similar substance adhering to the inner surface of the top or a sheet of paraflin paper, or of other material, which may be somewhat compressed about its periphery by the beading or bending of the cover flange 41 beneath the bead 17.

In large machines, I may provide a series of the dies 10 mounted upon a turn-table or other conveyer so as to come in succession into the press. In such a machine, the workmen could assemble the hoop, staves, bottom and plunger member within the die while the latter is moving to operative position within the press and the number of dies and the speed of the machine could be regulated so that each die would come into position immediately after the parts are assembled, ready for the application of pressure. In such a machine, I might provide only one plunger member for a series of die members and such plunger need not be collapsible. Such an arrangement would ne cessitate a very much greater range of movement for the reciprocating part of the press. In Fig. 8, I have shown a plunger 11 having a non-collapsible, integral, peripheral wall.

In the foregoing description I have indicated certain alternative forms of construction but I do not wish it to be understood as thereby implying that none other could be adopted. For instance, instead of using fiat band hoops 18 and 20, I may use welded wire hoops 18 and 20 shown in Fig. 11. The outer surface of the staves might be grooved or crozed before assembling so that in forcing them into the die, the wood below the croze might be slightly compressed and the hoop then sprung into croze as the assembling operation is completed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A process of making containers which consists in supporting and properly positioning in respect to each other a series of hoops, assembling a series of staves in axially displaced position in respect to said hoops, each of said staves having a croze, assem bling a bottom within said staves and axially displaced from saidcroze, forcing said bottom into said croze and then simultaneously forcing all of said staves endwise into said hoops.

2. A process of making containers which consists in supporting and properly positioning in respect to each other a series of hoops, assembling a series of flat staves in axially displaced position in respect to said hoops, each of said staves having a croze, assembling a bottom within said staves and axially displaced from said croze, forcing said bottom into said croze, and then simultaneously forcing all of said staves endwise into said hoops and compressing the staves and bending them to curved form.

3. A process for making containers which consists in assembling a plurality of hoops of different sizes in spaced relationship and a series of staves, the staves and hoops being relatively displaced axially and said staves each having a croze, positioning a bottom with its periphery opposite the croze and moving said staves and hoops axially in respect to each other to reduce the diameter of the container, compress the staves and grip the bottom within the croze.

A. A process for making containers which consists in positioning a series of staves within a plurality of hoops of successively decreasing diameter and axially displaced in the direction of the larger hoop, each of said staves having a croze, positioning a bottom with its periphery opposite to said croze and simultaneously forcing said bottom and said staves axially tofinal position within said hoops and thereby compressing the staves, reducing the effective diameter of the container and gripping the bottom within the croze.

5. A process of making containers which consists in assembling a series of flat tapered staves within a pair of hoops, said staves each having a croze and said hoops being of slightly different diameter, the staves being axially displaced in the direction of the larger hoop, positioning a circular bottom with its periphery opposite said croze and simultaneously forcing said staves and bot tom endwise within said hoops and in the direction of the smaller hoop to compress the staves, bend them to curved form and grip the bottom within the croze.

6. A machine for making containers, including a die, the inner surface of which presents a plurality of spaced supports for a plurality of hoops of diflerent diameters and a plunger member adapted to enter within said die member and including a flange for engagement with the ends of the staves to force themlengthwise within the die and a terminal portion adapted to en gage with the upper surface of the bottom of the container, the distance between said flange and said terminal surface being equal to the desired lnterior height of the container whereby the staves and bottom may be moved simultaneously in the same direction during the compression of the staves withing the die.

7. A machine for making containers, including a die, the inner surface of which presents a frusto-conical face, provided with supports for a plurality of hoop members, and a plunger member having a frusto-conical face adapted to enter within said die member and bend fiat staves to curved form and an annular flange adapted to engage with the ends of the staves to force them longitudinally of said die member, the

end of said plunger member being adapted to simultaneously engage with the container which a series of hoops and a series of staves each having a croze may be positioned in axially displaced relationship, a spring pressed support within said die member for the container bottom and a plunger member including a part adapted'to engage with the container bottom to\ force the latter downwardly to a position opposite the croze of the staves and a part rigid in respect to the first mentioned part and adapted toflengage with the upper end of the staves whereby the staves and bottom may be simultaneously forced axially within the die and toward the smaller end thereof.

9. A machine for making containers including a frusto-conical die member, an annular member within said die member at the smaller end thereof, a downwardly movable support within said die member for a container bottom, and a plunger member having a part foreengagement with the container bottom and a part at a predetermined distance therefrom for engagement with the upper end of the staves, said plunger member being axially movable within said die member until the end of the staves engage with said annular member.

10. A machine for making containers including a frusto-conical die member, an annular member within said die member at the smaller end thereof, a downwardly movable support within said die member for a container bottom, and a plunger member having a part for engagement with the container bottom and a part at a predetermined distance therefrom for engagement with the upper end of the staves, said. plunger member being axially movable within said die member until the end of the staves engage with said annular member, and means engaging with said, annular member for raising the latter and lifting the completed container out of the die member.

11. A machine for making containers including a die having a frusto-conical chamber provided with a series of annular recess'es each adapted to receive a hoop memher, the recesses adjacent the larger end of said chamber having an enlargement at its upper end adapted to receive a head portion of a hoop, and a plunger member having a frusto-conical body portion adapted to enter within said die member and bend flat staves to curved form, and an annular flange adapted to engage with-the ends of the stave members to force them longitudinally of said die member and to flatten the bead of the hoop in said last mentioned recess.

12. A machine for making containers including a die, the inner surface of which presents a frusto-conical face provided with spaced annular recesses each adapted to receive a hoop member, a plunger member having a frusto-conical face adapted to enter within said die member and bend flat staves to curved form, and an annular flange carried by said plunger member and adapted to engage with the ends of the staves to force them longitudinally of said die member.

13. A machine for making containers including a die having a frustoconical inner surface provided with spaced annular recesses, each adapted to receive a hoop and a plunger member having a frusto-conical outer surface concentric with and parallel to the inner surface of said die, and an outwardly extending flange at the larger end of said plunger member.

14c. A machine for making containers including a die having a frusto-conical inner surface provided with a series of annular recesses and a plunger member having a frusto-conical outer surface concentric with and parallel to the inner surface of said die, and an outwardly extending flange at the larger end of said plunger member, the smaller end of said plunger member serving to force a container bottom endwise into the croze of the staves, the frusto-conical surfaces of said die and said plunger member serving to compress the staves and bend them to curved form and said flange serving to force the staves endwise into the die.

15. A machine for making containers including a die having a frusto-conical inner surface provided with a series of annular recesses and a plunger member having a frusto-conical outer surface concentric with and parallel to the inner surface of said die, and an outwardly extending flange at the larger end of said plunger member, said flange and the smaller end of said plunger member being adapted to simultaneously engage with the upper end of the staves and the container bottom to force the staves and bottom simultaneously toward the smaller end of the die and compress and bend said staves.

Signed at New York city in the county of New York and State of New York this 11th day of June A. D. 1915.,

CHARLES E. GREGORY.

W'itnesses:

CLAIR W. FAIRBANK, FLORENCE LEVIEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

